The Board Meets

MCC Board Member and President of Catholic Relief Services Ken Hackett and MCC Acting CEO Darius Mans answer questions during the September 10 post-Board outreach event.

Today, I joined MCC Board Member Ken Hackett, President of Catholic Relief Services, at a public event to discuss the outcomes of yesterday’s quarterly meeting of MCC’s Board of Directors, chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. MCC routinely schedules these post-Board outreach opportunities as part of our ongoing, transparent engagement with our partners and stakeholders. Both todays discussion and yesterdays board meeting shared a common theme: MCCs assistance is not automatic. Rather, it requires partners who are willing to shoulder the responsibility to practice good governance and accountability that is essential to growing their economies and delivering sustainable results in the lives of the worlds poor.

MCC welcomes working with those partner countries committed to this path. This makes sense for their poor and it makes sense for our investments of American taxpayer resources. The updated results section of MCC’s website summarizes our progress to date. We are rapidly approaching cumulative disbursements of $1 billion and contract commitments of $2 billion aimed at reducing poverty around the world.